Can A Playing Partner Shield You With An Umbrella While You Putt?
Is it within the Rules for a playing partner or anyone else to hold a brolly over your head while you make a stroke at the golf ball?
You can imagine the scene: It’s suddenly started lashing down with rain and you’re getting a soaking. You want to get off a green as quickly as possible to find shelter.
Having played up to within tap-in distance, you hurry towards the hole to put it in. As you do so, your playing partner who is holding an umbrella moves to the edge of the hole and holds the brolly over your head as you knock your ball into the hole.
It would seem a sensible and friendly thing to do. But is it allowed under The Rules of Golf?
The simple answer is – no.
It’s covered by Rule 10 which is - Preparing for and making a stroke; advice and help; caddies.
Specifically, you need to look to 10.2b(5) – Physical help, eliminating distractions, and protection from the elements.
It says that a player must not make a stroke with their caddie or any other person (that would include a playing partner) giving them protection from sunlight, rain, wind or other elements.
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If a playing partner were to hold an umbrella over you as you tapped in a putt, even if it was a very short putt, you would be in breach of this Rule and the penalty would be the general penalty of two strokes in stroke play and loss of hole in match play.
You would, however, be able to hold an umbrella over your own head as you tapped in.
If you grabbed a brolly and ran up to the edge of the hole holding it over your own head, you could tap in one handed.
That’s because Rule 10.2b(5) also says the Rule does not prevent the player from taking their own actions to protect against the elements while making a stroke.
So, can a playing partner hold an umbrella over your head while you putt? No. Can you hold an umbrella over your own head while you putt? Yes.
It’s worth knowing that one. It might seem a generous act but if you accept such help from your playing partner, you’re going to be penalised.
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Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.
He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.
Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?
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